‘A massive ship came out of the blue’: Sailor recounts how North Sea collision unfolded

Crew jumped into action

The Stena Immaculate – which was carrying fuel on behalf of the US military – was anchored outside the port of Hull and almost entirely stationary when it was hit at 09:48 GMT on Monday.

An experienced American sailor who was on the oil tanker when it was struck gave CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, a first-hand account.

The sailor – who did not give his name as crew are not allowed to speak to the media – was standing close to the point of impact and had seconds to react.

He recalled hearing the shouts of his fellow crew members as they warned each other to brace.

It felt as though the Solong was driving into the side of the Stena Immaculate for 10 minutes, the sailor said.

Other crew members described how it appeared nobody was on the bridge of the Solong at the moment of the crash, he added.

An investigation into the cause of the collision has only just begun but the transport minister said it is clear something went “terribly wrong”.

Data from MarineTraffic appears to show the Solong was travelling at 16 knots (18 mph).

Flames immediately began erupting from the vessel, he said, and the crew jumped into action, putting on protective gear to battle the blaze.

“Everybody had only seconds to react”, the sailor said.

It was a “textbook” operation for the crew who had trained for a disaster like this.

Another sailor who was onboard the Stena Immaculate told BBC News he had been blindsided by the impact and described how the severity of the situation dawned on him.

“My eyes were locked on the flames… all I did was still pretty foggy,” he said.

“I looked down, I saw the containers. I looked up, and I briefly saw that it was a ship, and then [I saw] the fire.”

That was when his training kicked in, he recounted, and he joined efforts to fight the flames.

But it did not take long before they realised battling the inferno was hopeless and their ship was a lost cause.

The decision was made to abandon.

Abandon ship

The Stena Immaculate’s crew ran to their cabins to get what they needed.

They grabbed emergency equipment and life jackets, before hurrying back to the pre-arranged mustering point.

A headcount was carried out to ensure they had all made it to the lifeboats.

As they climbed in, the fast-spreading flames were lapping at the sailors, creeping so close that they singed the hair of some of them.

All 23 sailors got off the oil tanker safely and made it back to shore.

The captain was the last to disembark.

On Monday evening, some of the Stena Immaculate crew were in a Grimsby supermarket shopping for clothes. One told BBC News he left the vessel with nothing but his wallet and phone.

Search and rescue

Less is known about how events unfolded on the Solong, a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship which was sailing from Scotland to the Netherlands when it struck the Stena Immaculate.

There were 14 crew members on board at the time, 13 of whom were brought back to shore.

Coastguard vessels and aircraft were scrambled to search for the missing sailor.

Lifeboats from Bridlington, Cleethorpes, Mablethorpe and Skegness joined response.

But around 12 hours later, with the North Sea in pitch dark, the search was called off and the working assumption is now that the missing sailor was killed in the incident.

His identity has not been publicly confirmed.

On Tuesday afternoon, police said a 59-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, and the ship’s owners subsequently confirmed the man was the Solong’s captain.

Meanwhile, the cargo ship was being held offshore by a tugboat in a safer position.

But, according to the coastguard, it continues to burn.

Source: BBC